The EU’s attempts at
conflict resolution have left much to be desired. In the Ukraine, the Baltic
States, Turkey and much of the Middle East, there is a lack of coherent policy.
This pamphlet argues that the renegotiations around the UK’s referendum vote
represent an opportunity to enact wide-scale reform, not least to ensure that
the nations of an increasingly politically integrated Eurozone do not come to
dominate the Foreign and Security policy of the EU in years to come. To allow
them to do so would almost certainly see the policy of ‘common defence’ advance
at the expense of the United States’ lasting commitment to NATO. Former Foreign
Secretary David Owen argues that should Britain’s reform negotiations with the
EU fail there will be serious implications for our security, and that foreign
policy and security belong at the heart of the reforms the EU so desperately
needs.

David Owen (Lord Owen) served as Foreign Secretary under James
Callaghan from 1977 until 1979, and later co-founded and went on to lead the
Social Democratic Party (SDP). Between 1992-95 Lord Owen served as EU Peace
Negotiator in the former Yugoslavia and he now sits as an independent social
democrat in the House of Lords. He is the author of many books, including In
Sickness and In Power and The Hubris Syndrome.